Moon Base Alpha is an ephemeral architectural construction which exists as a performative space. Consisting of a domed inflatable units connected by inflatable corridors, Moon Base Alpha requires visitor participation to fulfill its intended purpose. Sustaining its shape with only positive air pressure produced by several portable fan units, every visitor to the space must time their entrance so as to not deflate the architecture. Perhaps by working together, groups or communities will form from this simple system in the beginning phases of Moon Base Alpha. Upon entry, participants have become colonists and experience the structural form as it is constantly shifting and evolving. Ceilings may have once been floors, and the corridors are anything but rigid. While the separate domes are connected by similar hallways and tunnels, the colonist population will begin to divide and conquer the available space, with communities beginning to form. Perhaps an area will be designated as the “play room” or simply a lesser used dome in which some quiet time can be had to reflect.
While Moon Base Alpha exists as a suggestion for future outer space dwellings, its design is rooted in the moon colonization imagery and science fiction in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s of the United States. The design becomes an amalgam of NASA fact and comic book fiction.
Though Moon Base Alpha could be described as a simple series of inflatable structures, it allows participants to escape the hard edges and 90 degree angles which enclose them constantly. An architectural system that is constantly shifting, deflating, and inflating becomes a living system that is essentially breathing.
Lit from within by artificial lamps, Moon Base Alpha exudes a soft glow to the external visitors, further enticing them to join the colonists already inside. Fans inflating the structure produce a low white noise, allowing the colonists to communicate with each other at a normal volume, though possibly drowning out the exterior noise of planet Earth. This allows for further imagination of being isolated on a distant star, in search of new discoveries.
Though it can exist outdoors due to the waterproof construction, Moon Base Alpha can also be installed in an indoor space, further transforming the existing architecture. As it can be built in sections over time, volunteers and participants can work in virtually any space during the construction phase and easily transport the assembled product before inflation and habitation.
